Andreas Widmer is the Chairman of the VRA Advisory Board. He is also the founder and co-director of the SEVEN Fund (Social Equity Venture Fund), a philanthropic foundation which sponsors and promotes research in enterprise based solutions to poverty. Prior to SEVEN, he was an executive in residence at Highland Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm. He is a business executive that has held key leadership roles in international strategy consulting and high technology software firms including OTF Group Inc, Eprise Corp, Dragon Systems and FTP Software Inc. He has worked extensively in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America and has brought over 100 leading-edge technology products to market. During his 17 year career, he has furthered the buildup of four startup companies with cumulative exits valued at over $730 million. Andreas’ current projects include advising several medical device and high technology startup companies on their strategy, venture capital and angel fund-raising efforts.